A/N: So now I have made you wait... Hope you don't hate me too much but I lost my disk and I had to go seaching for another one. And once I finally found one I go to put it in the slot and there's the other one... Sometimes I'm such a lolo. So I apologize for making you wait. And hope you enjoy the next exciting installment of Gwendolyn. Please don't forget to review! I always need the feedback.

Chapter 10

Sirius held Gwen's hand as they sat on the couch heads bent as they talked. Raven and Lily smiled until the noticed the nervous look in Gwen's eyes. Leaning her head on his shoulder Gwen took a deep breath.

"Sirius, I'm scared…"

"Don't be. They'll be fine with it. You just have to tell them."

"I know… but I'm still scared. I wish everyone would just go to bed so I could tell them and get it over with already."

"Be patient." Sirius told her and she nodded slowly but the butterflies didn't want to stop. In fact, they seemed to take it as a cue to start up worse acrobatics.

Finally the last straggler left and Gwen and Sirius stood and faced the couches where Raven, Remus, Lily and James seated themselves. Gwen looked into Sirius' eyes one last time and then she nodded and let go of his hand. He leaned back against the wall and then turned his attention to his friends' reactions.

"I've known you all for what seems like forever but there's… more to me than you know. I hate lying to you, which is why you're all here." Gwen began hesitantly then took a deep breath. She told them about her mother and how her father had died. She told them about being clairsentient. Then she looked up at them all for the very first time and what she saw nearly broke her heart.

None of them looked disgusted. None of them seemed to see her as some vile thing that did not belong at Hogwarts. They all smiled and when she finally finished James laughed, but not at her…

"You thought that we wouldn't like you because of all this?" James asked when he had finally stopped. "Gwen, you're our friend. I mean you brought Sirius Black, the permanent bachelor, to his knees."

"Well, y-yes, but not on purpose and he did his own magic on me. And back then when I met you I wasn't a friend. You didn't even know me then. James you made me laugh. And Remus there's something about you… you're just so… calm. And Sirius… well, let's just say he has a very striking aura."

"Can you see auras?" Lily asked sudden interest sparking in her eyes.

"No. At least... not naturally, with lots of practice and some major training I might be able to. But...but by nature, I'm a… well, to put it in simple terms… I... I touch someone or something and I can see images or memories of events that have happened to or around the person or object. But sometimes I don't see, but I feel…" she laughed at her inane description. "It's kind of hard to explain. You get what I mean, right?" They all nodded and she smiled. It felt good to be talking so freely with them. But she noticed that they seemed almost tentative to ask her anything.

So she smiled at them, "You can ask your questions. I know you're dying to know. Go on, ask."

Raven asked first. "What did you see? From us…anything? Or do you have to concentrate to get an image or do a reading?"

"Usually that is the case. Especially when a person has little or no life altering experiences. But with you… it was a lot different. Each of you seemed to have some experience that changed you. In fact the only one I didn't get an 'image' from was you, Lily." She said turning to face her friend.

"But why? I've had lots happen to me. I come from a muggle family, for one. Shouldn't getting my letter from Hogwarts have been a memory of mine?"

"Well, yes, it should have, but… well, I can't even begin to fathom how the mind works. Sometimes people are just hard to read. It happens."

"So what do you see from me?" Raven asked eagerly.

"I saw you sitting looking down from the window of Number 4 Privet Drive wishing to be back in Utah. Then your friends came and you ran to meet them."

"And me?" James asked excitedly.

"I saw your first time on a broom stick during a Quidditch match. The very first snitch you ever caught. You won that game. Then you looked to the stands…" she stopped not sure whether to say that his eyes had sought out Lily and only Lily.

"What about me?" Remus asked and Gwen met his quiet gaze with her own. He looked at her a full minute when she hadn't said anything he smiled. "It's alright, you can say it. They all know."

"Two things I saw with you, Remus. One in a dream, another when we met. When we met and shook hands I saw three things in a quick flash. The moon, a wolf and your eyes. Eyes of the wolf, I knew then. The second time in a dream, I saw you as a little boy. You heard a shot, raced through the forest and saw Him… You ran but you couldn't make it… He caught you. Here." She took her finger and marked a jagged scar on her own upper arm that Sirius knew matched Remus'.

Slowly Remus lifted his sleeve and showed her the mark. "This it?" he asked smiling as Gwen nodded.

"And me? What do you see of me?" Sirius asked, making her look up at him when he had been quiet throughout the whole thing.

"I saw not you exactly, at least not the now you but the little boy you were once alone in the great empty halls of the Black House. You cried for someone to see you. In a room which held a tapestry of your family… I saw that image over and over again. You were never as good as your brother Regulus. There I agreed with them. You were better. Are better..."

Sirius smiled at her and she smiled back but then Lily nervously cleared her voice. "Can you… that is, can you see a future?"

"Well, I've never…that is… My mother does do fortunes and she did train me but it was never my strong point. I could try if you like. Would you like that, Lily?" Lily nodded and Gwen smiled. "Alright then, let's give this a go. Would the rest of you help?"

When they nodded, she motioned them to sit in a circle linking hand around her and Lily then told them to just hold hands and relax. "You will be our guards as to do this I'm going to need to reach way down and use most of my energy."

"It won't harm you will it?" Sirius asked not sure he wanted this to happen if it did.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll just have to relax and you being tense won't help. It was bad enough earlier with Snape egging me on and you sitting there itching for fi…" she stopped mid-sentence. She hadn't meant to mention that Severus Snape had bothered her.

"Snivelus? What's he got to with this?" James asked his eyes growing dark.

"It's nothing… he just…"

"Nothing! Severus Snape called you worse than a Mudblood and it's nothing?"

"Just drop it, Sirius. I'm fine and that's all that matters."

"No, I will not drop it." He turned to the others. "Yesterday when Gwen was up in the tower Snivelus came and he called her worse than a Mudblood. He stood there telling her she didn't belong here at Hogwarts. He lied to her face and had he stayed any longer he would have regretted it."

"But he didn't and I'm fine. And if you recall, Sirius Black, he left because I gave him no other choice. I can take care of myself and I do not need you bullying people for me! Now drop it!" realizing what she had said Gwen put her hand over her mouth and stared wide eyed at Sirius. But the hand shook slightly so she put it down in her lap so her friends couldn't see.

Raven put her hands over hers. "He hurt you, didn't he?" when Gwen lifted her head to protest she cut her off. "Not physically but emotionally. He hurt you. Don't listen to him, Gwen. You belong here. And don't let Sirius annoy you. As sweet as he is he has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth around you. Now are we going to read Lily's fortune or not?"

Gwen smiled at Raven then looked over at Sirius. "She's right again, you know."

"I know. And somehow it doesn't surprise me." He said then he grinned and joined hands between Raven and James. "Now let's read this fortune."

Gwen nodded then looked at Lily. "Just relax all of you, close your eyes and breathe deep. In…out…in…out… that's it... Now Lily, mind you I'm not very good at this so what I get may not make sense. You want to go through with this anyway?" When Lily nodded Gwen linked her hands with Lily's. "Okay then, but you are warned; my predictions may not come true. Close your eyes and don't let go for anything…"

Keeping her eyes closed she concentrated on the slow thudding heartbeat of Lily's that made its way from Lily to her. Pulses seemed to shock up her arm and then it was like suddenly she was pulled through a doorway or something against her will. She heard bells ringing in her head and laughter seemed to surround her.

Then the image of a church flashed and she saw a happy couple rushing from its doors waved away by their many friends. Then she saw their faces and held onto it for as long as she could… It was James and Lily! Married! And they loved each other! She saw the love surrounding them. Pure and strong.

Years passed and she saw a boy who looked like James and had Lily's bright green eyes. Glasses just like James' graced his face and he wore Gryffindor robes. But his eyes were sad and he was alone. She tried to dig into why and in a flash of green she saw Peter, Sirius and a snake. She heard evil laughter reverberate through her head. Then a pain lashed onto her forehead and in a flash it was all gone.

With a gasp Gwen broke connection and opened her eyes leaned back onto one arm and panted for breath. As she had the night she had looked at the vision of Remus she felt drained but instead of the knowledge of what it was about him that had bothered her she was left with the muddled bits that she had seen.

"Gwen?" Sirius leaned down beside her and looked concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Fine… tired but fine. Do you want to know what I saw Lily?" she asked turning to her friend who nervously nodded her head. "I saw a marriage of true love. A man, who loves you more than life itself and who in return you love the same. And I saw a little boy, he had your eyes…" she stopped not sure what to say of the rest.

"What else did you see?" Lily urged her on.

"I don't know. It happened fast. I saw…Peter and Sirius and a snake… A great snake…" a shudder raced through her. "Then something happened. Evil happened… It ended there. I can't tell you what or how or why…but something happened. I'm sorry, Lily. I'm not very good at this kind of thing. Sorry..."

She looked up at James and then to Sirius. Then her eyes traveled to Raven and Remus. "Also, I want to say again, my predictions may not come true. They're only guesses and the future is always your choice. Anything I said is a choice, your choice. I can't make guarantees."

"It's all right… Are you? Are you okay, Gwen? You're shaking." Lily leaned down and Gwen tried to smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really. Just…tired. I'm...I'm going to go bed." She smiled at them all and she made her way up to the girls' dormitory.

"Gwen?" she turned and looked back at Sirius and then her eyes traveled to Remus, Raven, Lily and finally James.

"Don't worry about me. I've never been able to handle major readings. It always zaps me. Now I'm going to bed before I fall down on my face."

"G'night, Gwen." They said together and the shaking stopped as she grinned at her friends.

"G'night, you guys."

She concentrated on making it up the stairs but when she looked back she realized something. I'm not alone anymore… For some reason that made it all the easier to go to sleep and dream of nothing and everything all at once.